I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because it suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian River valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
He has aged badly in two ways, looks and voice; in the 00s & 10s he was a square jawed, handsome man with a posh voice. The inspiration for Darcy in Bridget Jones. Now he’s overweight, flabby and sounds like Spitting Image’s John Major puppet
Wow, you’re actually right. That 2017 video is a million miles away from how he speaks now.
I do feel that for the even mildly awkward - Brown, Miliband, May, Starmer - the leadership/premiership becomes a kind of cage to be endured, and the emotional energy it takes to maintain appearances actually just crushes your soul.
Right, so I know a bit about this. Firstly, surgery is a last resort, only used when someone realy injured their voice or had throat cancer or something. It's quite risky. But you don't need it anyway. The human voice is amazingly flexible- what we think of as the way a person sounds, is actually mostly a bunch of habits. It's not hard to sound quite different - if you are thinking about it. But usually you have a load of more important things to think about, such as what you're saying, so it's not that easy to change, but it is easy to fall into a habit that makes your voice sound unpleasant. For example, female schoolteachers often end up with a shrill, nasal voice because they have been trying to be heard over a classfull of shrieky kids all day. (The blokes have it easier because their lower pitch is easier to hear over the kids).
Starmer often speaks like he's got a bit of a cold. I'm not sufficiently expert as to be able to tell what he's doing, but I think it's at the back of the throat/soft palate area. I think John Major sounded a lot wierder TBH
His vocal coach, Leonie Mellinger, is mostly an actress and doesn't quote any specific voice qualifications (though she will have been given a course on it at RADA). There are specialists specifically on voice (Estill method, CVT) . I don't think she's tried to change how he actually sounds,like they did with Thatcher. From the article in The Times it seems like she's worked on confidence and delivery. It's difficult to know whether she's improved him or not - we don't have the counterfactual; he could have sounded a lot worse without her...
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
Name a real lager had to try a few as many places dont sell non lager stuff in pints, never found one I ever wanted to regurgitate again
'Real' Real *real* lager - as in the lager equivalent of real ale - is almost non-existent and has been since the 1960s when the entire world more or less moved over to keg dispense - e.g. force-carbonated and dispensed under gas pressure.
I say almost because cask lager is a thing, but almost impossible to find outside of specialist pubs/bars and beer festivals.
For the most classic example, head to Czechia you might find some places selling Pilsner Urquell from wooden casks, which is quite stunning.
In Cologne you'll probably get some casked Kolsch (technically an ale, but fermented like a lager, so a sort of hybrid but definitely more lagerlike in character).
And some British brewers will occasionally do a cask lager as a novelty/seasonal beer. I had a Keller Helles from Wimbledon brewery just a few weeks ago. The most recent Wetherspoons festival included a Marzen from Fyne Ales and a Vienna from Harviestoun (also known for Schiehallion lager).
But generally when people say 'real' lager, they're talking about better quality stuff from smaller breweries, but not necessarily 'real' as per the CAMRA definition!
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
I remember when foreign elections were the stuff of mild political nerd interest. Now every one seems to have become a critical battle for the survival of the Western world order against the forces of MAGA and Putinism.
Please can we have back the old days?
The biggest external threats the west faces are from China and Islamism. MAGA correctly understood is an isolationist movement. Which makes Trump's imperialistic behaviour more puzzling. The biggest threat Putin now poses is that he's a capo of Beijing.
Notice that China's new EV European HQ will be in..... Hungary.
Looks like an Orban legend.
Hungarian friend of mine went back home for a visit last year and said it was quite noticeable that there were Chinese policemen 'helping' the local plod out. Especially keeping an eye of Chinese tourists.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
Does it tell you which go well with lemonade...asking for my mother ;-)
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just because something is called “Champagne” doesn’t mean it’s any good. Removing PDO wont help you
On Starmer’s voice - I’m genuinely surprised that Lord Alli didn’t stump up for surgery and/or training.
Starmer sounds like he’s responsible for health and safety at a model railway convention.
I have repeatedly got shot down on here for saying he reminds me of Gordon Brittas...
It is doubly unfortunate that his personality - peevish, vain, unimaginative, managerial, dull - so exactly matches the voice
Absolutely. Vocative determinism.
Here's a thing about Starmer. Whenever a dull politician comes along, there is nearly always a counter narrative that goes: "actually in real life they are a hoot, really good sense of humour". We got it with Major, we got it with Gordon Brown. There was even a lame attempt to do it with TMay
No one has even tried this with Starmer
I just feel so sorry for his wife. She just looks utterly broken. She went AWOL for a while and people started questioning it so she got put on parade again.
Did people start questioning? Nutty conspiracy theorists started questioning, but most people didn’t.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
Apart from my phone doesnt leave the house nor does it have apps on it....its a phone
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
Does it tell you which go well with lemonade...asking for my mother ;-)
Vivino is brilliant. It terrifies sommeliers because they can't overwhelm you with salesmanship. "Oh this is made on the left bank of the Garonne in a tiny blah blah" -
"Er, mate, it's got a 3.5 rating and is "tart". and I can get it in Carrefour for £6 and you're selling it for £60, fuck off"
It is basically the end of wine bullshit, which is a good thing. If you have Vivino you are almost as knowledgeable as a Master of Wine from the get-go. I use it constantly
To be fair to sommeliers, many of them have largely accepted it. Once they see you are using Vivino they shut up and shrug and let you decide for yourself
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just because something is called “Champagne” doesn’t mean it’s any good. Removing PDO wont help you
Didn't claim it did frankly I dont like champagne in any case its revolting muck, was using it as a well known brand as an example and sorry people will choose the one marked champagne over a bottle that doesn't have that mark even though its better and is like champagne purely because one bottle says champagne and the other doesn't.....people are being mislead
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
Champagne tastes very different from almost all other sparkling wines. English is the closest, but it is different - higher acids, more orchard fruit.
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
Apart from my phone doesnt leave the house nor does it have apps on it....its a phone
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
Apart from my phone doesnt leave the house nor does it have apps on it....its a phone
I think we have identified the problem, here
The problem being I don't think I should carry a tracking device and use an app when all I want it is a bottle of wine
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
At least it is Italian.
Whereas Madri lager is as Spanish as Newcastle Brown Ale.
Carling Black Label rebranded...whoever was responsible for the marketing did an incredible job.
AB InBev and Heineken Corp have done an amazing job convincing UK consumers to buy all these exotic sounding beer brands which are either fake brands or that are all made under licence in sexy places like Barnsley or Blackburn etc (and all owned by those two companies) and bare very little resemble to the real stuff.
Madri is disgusting. I don't understand why anyone drinks it. A pint of Doom Bar wins for me anyday and I'm not a massive real ale drinker. Madri is fizzy cat piss.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just because something is called “Champagne” doesn’t mean it’s any good. Removing PDO wont help you
Didn't claim it did frankly I dont like champagne in any case its revolting muck, was using it as a well known brand as an example and sorry people will choose the one marked champagne over a bottle that doesn't have that mark even though its better and is like champagne purely because one bottle says champagne and the other doesn't.....people are being mislead
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
Champagne tastes very different from almost all other sparkling wines. English is the closest, but it is different - higher acids, more orchard fruit.
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
Speaking to a Romanian lady a few weeks ago (we're talking the sort who used to work in Brussels) she said it was a mistake to cancel Georgescu as ridiculous as his campaign was (no expenses but massive tiktok volume!)
When the director of the FBI blatantly lies about a major law enforcement area, then it casts the whole of law enforcement into question.
In the interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, Kash Patel claims that all of the fentanyl is coming into the country from Canada through the northern border. https://x.com/ArtCandee/status/1924123984691339699
Couple that with the purges of longstanding career officers, and it's another few clicks of the ratchet on the way to authoritarianism.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
Champagne tastes very different from almost all other sparkling wines. English is the closest, but it is different - higher acids, more orchard fruit.
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
You realise most people its just wine we don't swill it around and go...I taste elderberry, pebbles in the moonlight sort of crap. Most people you could give champagne, various other fizzy whites too and ask which you liked best and which was champagne and they wouldn't have a clue.....its just wine no one cares
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
Champagne tastes very different from almost all other sparkling wines. English is the closest, but it is different - higher acids, more orchard fruit.
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
You realise most people its just wine we don't swill it around and go...I taste elderberry, pebbles in the moonlight sort of crap. Most people you could give champagne, various other fizzy whites too and ask which you liked best and which was champagne and they wouldn't have a clue.....its just wine no one cares
So why do you care if it’s called Champagne or not?
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just because something is called “Champagne” doesn’t mean it’s any good. Removing PDO wont help you
Didn't claim it did frankly I dont like champagne in any case its revolting muck, was using it as a well known brand as an example and sorry people will choose the one marked champagne over a bottle that doesn't have that mark even though its better and is like champagne purely because one bottle says champagne and the other doesn't.....people are being mislead
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
Apart from my phone doesnt leave the house nor does it have apps on it....its a phone
I think we have identified the problem, here
The problem being I don't think I should carry a tracking device and use an app when all I want it is a bottle of wine
Which is fine but these days owning a smartphone essentially adds 20 points to your all-domain IQ, and as tech progresses this delta will enlarge, as a phone allows you to be a Phd expert in everything, at any moment. If you want to be a bewildered bumpkin in a wine shop, go ahead and avoid smartphones, but you will get swindled and end up buying crap wine at a bad price
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just because something is called “Champagne” doesn’t mean it’s any good. Removing PDO wont help you
Didn't claim it did frankly I dont like champagne in any case its revolting muck, was using it as a well known brand as an example and sorry people will choose the one marked champagne over a bottle that doesn't have that mark even though its better and is like champagne purely because one bottle says champagne and the other doesn't.....people are being mislead
So you want to outlaw advertising?
There are very real problems with the PDO system. It can be stultifying. But arguing it should be banned is like saying Chrysler should be able to call their cars BMWs.
PDO is no guarantee of strong brand value in any case. It can be a negative if fashions turn, as Beaujolais and Muscadet have both discovered. And Prosecco will in due course, as did Cava.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because it suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian River valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
It hugely helps our cheese makers too which have GI protections. Stilton is one of the best selling cheese across all of Europe, for example and French cheese makers can't use the Stilton branding for their imitations.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
If you think prosecco tastes like champagne save yourself the money and buy lemonade because you won't notice the difference there either.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
Champagne tastes very different from almost all other sparkling wines. English is the closest, but it is different - higher acids, more orchard fruit.
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
You realise most people its just wine we don't swill it around and go...I taste elderberry, pebbles in the moonlight sort of crap. Most people you could give champagne, various other fizzy whites too and ask which you liked best and which was champagne and they wouldn't have a clue.....its just wine no one cares
So why do you care if it’s called Champagne or not?
Because when you get sent to the shop for champagne and come back with buttfuck abby fizzy white which tastes better you get told off because its not champagne even though its better tasting and half the price
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
Champagne tastes very different from almost all other sparkling wines. English is the closest, but it is different - higher acids, more orchard fruit.
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
Trento DOC is extremely similar
Yes, quite similar. Less of the cardboardy flavour (which I quite like) of some Champagnes.
Dan seems to be pulling away, including in the diaspora vote.
It would be a big shock if Dan won the diaspora vote . He’s still trailing there but it was about keeping the gap down . It’s also likely that the first round over estimated Simions chances because his vote was more motivated then , in the second round urban areas came out and some of the diaspora also got off their arses to stop him .
@kaitlancollins Statement: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
Champagne tastes very different from almost all other sparkling wines. English is the closest, but it is different - higher acids, more orchard fruit.
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
You realise most people its just wine we don't swill it around and go...I taste elderberry, pebbles in the moonlight sort of crap. Most people you could give champagne, various other fizzy whites too and ask which you liked best and which was champagne and they wouldn't have a clue.....its just wine no one cares
So why do you care if it’s called Champagne or not?
Because when you get sent to the shop for champagne and come back with buttfuck abby fizzy white which tastes better you get told off because its not champagne even though its better tasting and half the price
That’s just the power of brands though. In any category, from clothing to automobiles to washing powder. You’re suggesting banning brands.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Yes, the only problem with PDO is that the Brits haven't learned to exploit it like the Frogs and Eyeties
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
No the real problem with PDO's is it shafts customers....if for example I as a customer go round the offlicence and there are 12 brands there that are "champagne like" but only 3 are labelled champagne how as a customer am I to know the other 9 brands are absolutely fine in taste and I couldn't tell the difference?
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Just use your brain or - if it is too small - take a photo and ask your phone
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
Apart from my phone doesnt leave the house nor does it have apps on it....its a phone
I think we have identified the problem, here
The problem being I don't think I should carry a tracking device and use an app when all I want it is a bottle of wine
Which is fine but these days owning a smartphone essentially adds 20 points to your all-domain IQ, and as tech progresses this delta will enlarge, as a phone allows you to be a Phd expert in everything, at any moment. If you want to be a bewildered bumpkin in a wine shop, go ahead and avoid smartphones, but you will get swindled and end up buying crap wine at a bad price
Well it might in some cases, seems to have resulted in a minus 20 in your case
It’s like when I get sent off to the polling station with instructions to vote Labour, and I come back having gone Lib Dem which is better but I get told off because it’s not Labour.
The so-called Reset with the EU will be a disaster for Labour and I predict the measures agreed will be reversed in 2029.
The trade deal we already have with the EU is the best any country has - there's very little still to go for.
Immigration is at record levels - more immigration is the last thing we need.
There will be more selling off of British interests in areas like fish and red tape.
Labour is still peddling the narrative that our problems are caused by Brexit. But it's not true.
Britain's problems are made in Britain. Our crazy Human Rights laws. Our Net Zero economic suicide. Our unaccountable institutions made much worse by Blair.
Only a Great Repeal Bill to reverse these laws and appointing new leadership to our failing institutions will deliver the change Britain needs.
Labour is still in the mindset of "narrative" and "optics" not in fixing real problems.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because it suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian River valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
It hugely helps our cheese makers too which have GI protections. Stilton is one of the best selling cheese across all of Europe, for example and French cheese makers can't use the Stilton branding for their imitations.
I really dont give a shit if they do to be honest, its producer interest over customer. I am quite happy to go in thinking I want a stilton like cheese and for loads of them to be labelled stilton it tells me the style is what I am looking for. However currently there are cheese I might try but don't because they aren't labelled as stilton even though I probably would like them so its me that loses out
Police have been given more time to question a second man arrested in connection with alleged arson attacks at properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon at London Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest relates to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
If you think prosecco tastes like champagne save yourself the money and buy lemonade because you won't notice the difference there either.
I have never tried prosecco and didn't claim it tasted the same, I don't like white wine in the first place and frankly champagne is foul so no interest in fizzy whites in any case
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
If you think prosecco tastes like champagne save yourself the money and buy lemonade because you won't notice the difference there either.
I have never tried prosecco and didn't claim it tasted the same, I don't like white wine in the first place and frankly champagne is foul so no interest in fizzy whites in any case
My point was merely if it was made with the same species of grape in the same manner and tastes similar they should be allowed to label it the same who gives a shit if it was main in taiwan, turkey or france
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
At least it is Italian.
Whereas Madri lager is as Spanish as Newcastle Brown Ale.
Carling Black Label rebranded...whoever was responsible for the marketing did an incredible job.
AB InBev and Heineken Corp have done an amazing job convincing UK consumers to buy all these exotic sounding beer brands which are either fake brands or that are all made under licence in sexy places like Barnsley or Blackburn etc (and all owned by those two companies) and bare very little resemble to the real stuff.
Madri is disgusting. I don't understand why anyone drinks it. A pint of Doom Bar wins for me anyday and I'm not a massive real ale drinker. Madri is fizzy cat piss.
Doom Bar is to ale what Madri is to lager.
Precisely the point I was making!
Two types of beer drinker. I was once in a Lake District pub with a decent range of local ales (including Coniston Blue Bird and Black Sheep) plus the obligatory Green King IPA. I’d walked in and been delighted with the choice available. Another set of people came in and went straight to Green King. I think some people just like what they know, hence now every high street on the country has the same shops and every pub has Green King Fecking IPA.
This was also the pub where I got to use a new version of the airport luggage joke. Hassled barman, pouring beers and asked for a cup of tea for my wife, stopped pouring a Blue Bird half way through. When he came back he mistakenly filled it with Black Sheep, hence creating the Blue Sheep or Coniston Black Bird pint. Next time to the bar I asked said drink, to be told that they didn’t serve that. So all together ‘that’s what you did last time’…
"The cancer is characterised by a Gleason score of 9 with metastasis to the bone, his office said, meaning it is a more aggressive form of the disease."
"The cancer is characterised by a Gleason score of 9 with metastasis to the bone, his office said, meaning it is a more aggressive form of the disease."
In which case it’s a good job he didn’t run as Kamala would be taking over quite soon. Oh, wait, that would have been a better result!
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
For the worlds largest economy, the US education system and educational attainment is absolutely terrible.
One interesting thing to do is watch some of the online lectures at the Elite US Universities, they often start at probably GCSE level despite these being 18-19 year olds and are the kids who are the smartest in the country.
The difference at an MIT is by the end of the lecture they have exceeded what is taught at UK universities, but it gives you an idea of how low the starting point is for even the bright kids. Think how bad it is for those who are giving shit grades on the SATs or not even graduating high school.
"The cancer is characterised by a Gleason score of 9 with metastasis to the bone, his office said, meaning it is a more aggressive form of the disease."
VERY OLD MAN IS LIKELY TO DIE IN NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS is also not headline news
It is sad, and I am sorry for Joe and his family. It's still not and should not be news in the UK. Tut
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
If you think prosecco tastes like champagne save yourself the money and buy lemonade because you won't notice the difference there either.
I have never tried prosecco and didn't claim it tasted the same, I don't like white wine in the first place and frankly champagne is foul so no interest in fizzy whites in any case
So really you just want to interfere with the lives of those who do drink these wines?
"The cancer is characterised by a Gleason score of 9 with metastasis to the bone, his office said, meaning it is a more aggressive form of the disease."
In which case it’s a good job he didn’t run as Kamala would be taking over quite soon. Oh, wait, that would have been a better result!
Not convinced that would have been better, maybe trump is a good thing for getting the rest of the world to step back from the edge while only affecting americans
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
At least it is Italian.
Whereas Madri lager is as Spanish as Newcastle Brown Ale.
Carling Black Label rebranded...whoever was responsible for the marketing did an incredible job.
AB InBev and Heineken Corp have done an amazing job convincing UK consumers to buy all these exotic sounding beer brands which are either fake brands or that are all made under licence in sexy places like Barnsley or Blackburn etc (and all owned by those two companies) and bare very little resemble to the real stuff.
Madri is disgusting. I don't understand why anyone drinks it. A pint of Doom Bar wins for me anyday and I'm not a massive real ale drinker. Madri is fizzy cat piss.
Doom Bar is to ale what Madri is to lager.
Precisely the point I was making!
Two types of beer drinker. I was once in a Lake District pub with a decent range of local ales (including Coniston Blue Bird and Black Sheep) plus the obligatory Green King IPA. I’d walked in and been delighted with the choice available. Another set of people came in and went straight to Green King. I think some people just like what they know, hence now every high street on the country has the same shops and every pub has Green King Fecking IPA.
This was also the pub where I got to use a new version of the airport luggage joke. Hassled barman, pouring beers and asked for a cup of tea for my wife, stopped pouring a Blue Bird half way through. When he came back he mistakenly filled it with Black Sheep, hence creating the Blue Sheep or Coniston Black Bird pint. Next time to the bar I asked said drink, to be told that they didn’t serve that. So all together ‘that’s what you did last time’…
On scrutiny, this comment seems to lack any known form of "joke"
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
Cleverer than that. Prosecco was (is) the name of the grape variety used by the vast majority of producers. They realised that a grape variety could be grown elsewhere - Australian Prosecco, Romanian Prosecco etc - so they cunningly renamed the grape variety to the much less widely used Glera, and made Prosecco the PDO name. Thereby protecting it from copycats.
That's brilliant
"Prosecco" is the perfect name for a celebratory fizzy wine. It's practically an orgasm in itself
Tho Wiki suggests my first understanding was correct? Perhaps they are both true
We need to do away with the PDO thing, if prosecco from california tastes the same why should they not call it prosecco....its pure protectionism that does nothing to help customers
You are more likely to get Nigel Farage voting to rejoin the EU than to getting a relaxation of the PDO rules.
PDO survives because of suits almost everyone. It suits the winemakers of Prosecco or Mâcon or Sancerre, it suits the Napa and Russian Ruver valley producers, and those in the Margaret River or Hunter Valley, but it also suits the mega drinks corporations because it helps them to differentiate and segment their brands.
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Ah you see there you say it suits everyone, I notice the people you don't mention customers just producers. It may suit producers but frankly they can go fuck themselves
For customers it’s pretty helpful. You immediately know the style and general flavour of the wine you’re buying, because all wines from that PDO are made in a similar way.
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
No its not a good thing because as I have pointed out, you have 12 bottles from different places, they all pretty much taste the same but three only are labelled champagne because of PDO. The implication to the customer is those others don't taste like that so they dont buy them....in other words wine producers are lying and probably charging a premium for wine thats inferior to the other 9 brands....yes no wonder it suits the corporate suits
If you think prosecco tastes like champagne save yourself the money and buy lemonade because you won't notice the difference there either.
I have never tried prosecco and didn't claim it tasted the same, I don't like white wine in the first place and frankly champagne is foul so no interest in fizzy whites in any case
So really you just want to interfere with the lives of those who do drink these wines?
How is them having a wider choices of champagne style beverages rather than paying over the top for inferior products interfering with their lives exactly. Its allowing them to make informed choices because now they no those other brands are similar.....not stopping manufacturers printing on their labels from the champagne areas
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
Back of the envelope calculation is there's just over a million votes left to count in the diaspora, almost all in Europe. 250k in the UK, 250k in Germany, 170k in Italy, 140k in Spain, 60k in France, 120k in Moldova. If the current splits hold, Simion gets 600k and Dan 450k. Not good enough for Simion.
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Police have been given more time to question a second man arrested in connection with alleged arson attacks at properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon at London Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest relates to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
It is genuinely bizarre this isn't a bigger story. It's so....... weird
Anyway, Prosecco producers owe a huge debt of gratitude to Salley Vickers, who brought said fizz to the attention of British women via Miss Garnett's Angel.
Police have been given more time to question a second man arrested in connection with alleged arson attacks at properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon at London Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest relates to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
It is genuinely bizarre this isn't a bigger story. It's so....... weird
You think there's more to it than a one-off nutjob obsessed with SKS?
Anyway, Prosecco producers owe a huge debt of gratitude to Salley Vickers, who brought said fizz to the attention of British women via Miss Garnett's Angel.
My half sister seems to live on prosecco but still never tried it however I did break her husband first time I met her as we finished a bottle of ron zacapa between us first night and he was really ill the the next day
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Yep
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
Police have been given more time to question a second man arrested in connection with alleged arson attacks at properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon at London Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest relates to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
It is genuinely bizarre this isn't a bigger story. It's so....... weird
You think there's more to it than a one-off nutjob obsessed with SKS?
Well they have arrested a second person (which is what I linked to) who appears they were trying to leave the country as they stopped them at Luton Airport. So the lone nutter might well not be the story.
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
We begin to understand what it felt like to live in the Roman Empire after AD180 or so.
Police have been given more time to question a second man arrested in connection with alleged arson attacks at properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon at London Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest relates to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
It is genuinely bizarre this isn't a bigger story. It's so....... weird
You think there's more to it than a one-off nutjob obsessed with SKS?
I shall draw a veil, because I know the mods are - justifiably - highly allergic to these stories
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
At least it is Italian.
Whereas Madri lager is as Spanish as Newcastle Brown Ale.
Carling Black Label rebranded...whoever was responsible for the marketing did an incredible job.
AB InBev and Heineken Corp have done an amazing job convincing UK consumers to buy all these exotic sounding beer brands which are either fake brands or that are all made under licence in sexy places like Barnsley or Blackburn etc (and all owned by those two companies) and bare very little resemble to the real stuff.
Madri is disgusting. I don't understand why anyone drinks it. A pint of Doom Bar wins for me anyday and I'm not a massive real ale drinker. Madri is fizzy cat piss.
Doom Bar is to ale what Madri is to lager.
Precisely the point I was making!
Two types of beer drinker. I was once in a Lake District pub with a decent range of local ales (including Coniston Blue Bird and Black Sheep) plus the obligatory Green King IPA. I’d walked in and been delighted with the choice available. Another set of people came in and went straight to Green King. I think some people just like what they know, hence now every high street on the country has the same shops and every pub has Green King Fecking IPA.
This was also the pub where I got to use a new version of the airport luggage joke. Hassled barman, pouring beers and asked for a cup of tea for my wife, stopped pouring a Blue Bird half way through. When he came back he mistakenly filled it with Black Sheep, hence creating the Blue Sheep or Coniston Black Bird pint. Next time to the bar I asked said drink, to be told that they didn’t serve that. So all together ‘that’s what you did last time’…
On scrutiny, this comment seems to lack any known form of "joke"
Man turns up at check in. ‘And where are we travelling today sir?’. ‘New York, but please send my luggage on to Tokyo’. ‘I’m sorry sir, we can’t do that.’.’Why not, that’s what you did last time…’
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Yep
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
Its even worse, because of AI the numbers of papers being submitted to some conferences has grown exponentially. So they are now increasingly been reviewed by under qualified PhDs, who appear to rather than say they don't understand a paper, are asking AI to explain it to them and in some cases been caught getting the AI to write the review.
So AI slop is being reviewed by AI for top tier conferences.....which is then published and fed back into the AI machine....
I’ve had a weekend of almost @BartholomewRoberts esque diet. After my fairly balanced meal out on Friday night it’s been:
Saturday breakfast: Bacon, sausage and egg bap Saturday lunch: huge chunks of bbq fillet steak, with courgettes Saturday dinner: barbecued chicken Sunday breakfast: bit of a break, with a cinnamon bun Sunday lunch: a whole rack of barbecued pork ribs and asparagus Sunday dinner: barbecued steak again, and pork chops
Got tummy ache
Did you wash it down with 24 cans of sugar free energy drinks?
An odd mix of crap Prosecco (at the reunion), tea and coffee, butty bach, and cider.
Sympathies. Life is far far far too short for crap Prosecco
The stuff has infested the social corners of Britain like Japanese knotweed.
I bet the Italians can’t believe their luck that we are all paying hard money for their shittiest fizzy wine
Congrats to the guys who came up with the name “Prosecco” tho. It’s a local village I think. Genius branding
At least it is Italian.
Whereas Madri lager is as Spanish as Newcastle Brown Ale.
Carling Black Label rebranded...whoever was responsible for the marketing did an incredible job.
AB InBev and Heineken Corp have done an amazing job convincing UK consumers to buy all these exotic sounding beer brands which are either fake brands or that are all made under licence in sexy places like Barnsley or Blackburn etc (and all owned by those two companies) and bare very little resemble to the real stuff.
Madri is disgusting. I don't understand why anyone drinks it. A pint of Doom Bar wins for me anyday and I'm not a massive real ale drinker. Madri is fizzy cat piss.
Doom Bar is to ale what Madri is to lager.
Precisely the point I was making!
Two types of beer drinker. I was once in a Lake District pub with a decent range of local ales (including Coniston Blue Bird and Black Sheep) plus the obligatory Green King IPA. I’d walked in and been delighted with the choice available. Another set of people came in and went straight to Green King. I think some people just like what they know, hence now every high street on the country has the same shops and every pub has Green King Fecking IPA.
This was also the pub where I got to use a new version of the airport luggage joke. Hassled barman, pouring beers and asked for a cup of tea for my wife, stopped pouring a Blue Bird half way through. When he came back he mistakenly filled it with Black Sheep, hence creating the Blue Sheep or Coniston Black Bird pint. Next time to the bar I asked said drink, to be told that they didn’t serve that. So all together ‘that’s what you did last time’…
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
We begin to understand what it felt like to live in the Roman Empire after AD180 or so.
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
We begin to understand what it felt like to live in the Roman Empire after AD180 or so.
Don't be silly according to Leon using a smart phone for choosing your wine increases your iq by 20 points.....using it for everything must therefore make you steven hawking levels of intellect
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Yep
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
You’re complaining about education standards declining while also being gleeful about the decline of higher education institutions. Honestly, WTF? I bet China do not talk down universities or people going to university. You are literally the problem.
Anyway, Prosecco producers owe a huge debt of gratitude to Salley Vickers, who brought said fizz to the attention of British women via Miss Garnett's Angel.
My half sister seems to live on prosecco but still never tried it however I did break her husband first time I met her as we finished a bottle of ron zacapa between us first night and he was really ill the the next day
You sure it was Ron Zacapa? Could have been any old rum.
Police have been given more time to question a second man arrested in connection with alleged arson attacks at properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon at London Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest relates to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
It is genuinely bizarre this isn't a bigger story. It's so....... weird
You think there's more to it than a one-off nutjob obsessed with SKS?
Well they have arrested a second person (which is what I linked to) who appears they were trying to leave the country as they stopped them at Luton Airport. So the lone nutter might well not be the story.
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Yep
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
You’re complaining about education standards declining while also being gleeful about the decline of higher education institutions. Honestly, WTF? I bet China do not talk down universities or people going to university. You are literally the problem.
Wait, what, little old me? I am personally the problem with higher education?
I mean, I know PB is obsessed with me, from time to time, but I suggest the enormous, grave, probably terminal issues menacing higher education go a touch beyond a flint knapper being a bit mean on an obscure UK website
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Yep
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
You’re complaining about education standards declining while also being gleeful about the decline of higher education institutions. Honestly, WTF? I bet China do not talk down universities or people going to university. You are literally the problem.
Wait, what, little old me? I am personally the problem with higher education?
I mean, I know PB is obsessed with me, from time to time, but I suggest the enormous, grave, probably terminal issues menacing higher education go a touch beyond a flint knapper being a bit mean on an obscure UK website
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Yep
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
Indeed, though it's not all sunshine and daisies for the Chinese, there's an epidemic of slacking among Chinese young people. The running joke is that there is now a circular economy for young people, the young men all do food delivery jobs then spend their money simping for young women streamers who then use their money to buy more food deliveries and so the cycle continues. Consumerism in China has become an uncontrollable mess and I think the Chinese government is going to have to start up the labour camps again to shake the youth out of their current malaise. One to watch over the next year or so I think.
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
It's getting worse too as more people consume their media in video or audio format negating the everyday need to read the news or sports pages.
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Yep
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
You’re complaining about education standards declining while also being gleeful about the decline of higher education institutions. Honestly, WTF? I bet China do not talk down universities or people going to university. You are literally the problem.
Actually China does have quite a big problem with university education. The kids are driven crazy hard at high school, perfection (or connection to the party) to get in to anywhere good....and then the conventions are that basically they never fail anybody or kick people out. And there has been in a growth in the laying flat mentality and of course cheating.
Comments
Well, I wouldn't pull any of them given how ugly they are, least of all in public, but each to their own.
Oh, not that sort of pulling and not that sort of Trump?
It also doesn’t do much harm to be honest. If English sparkling wine were called Champagne it would make it harder, not easier, to build a market for it.
Right, so I know a bit about this. Firstly, surgery is a last resort, only used when someone realy injured their voice or had throat cancer or something. It's quite risky. But you don't need it anyway. The human voice is amazingly flexible- what we think of as the way a person sounds, is actually mostly a bunch of habits. It's not hard to sound quite different - if you are thinking about it. But usually you have a load of more important things to think about, such as what you're saying, so it's not that easy to change, but it is easy to fall into a habit that makes your voice sound unpleasant. For example, female schoolteachers often end up with a shrill, nasal voice because they have been trying to be heard over a classfull of shrieky kids all day. (The blokes have it easier because their lower pitch is easier to hear over the kids).
Starmer often speaks like he's got a bit of a cold. I'm not sufficiently expert as to be able to tell what he's doing, but I think it's at the back of the throat/soft palate area. I think John Major sounded a lot wierder TBH
His vocal coach, Leonie Mellinger, is mostly an actress and doesn't quote any specific voice qualifications (though she will have been given a course on it at RADA). There are specialists specifically on voice (Estill method, CVT) . I don't think she's tried to change how he actually sounds,like they did with Thatcher. From the article in The Times it seems like she's worked on confidence and delivery. It's difficult to know whether she's improved him or not - we don't have the counterfactual; he could have sounded a lot worse without her...
'Real' Real *real* lager - as in the lager equivalent of real ale - is almost non-existent and has been since the 1960s when the entire world more or less moved over to keg dispense - e.g. force-carbonated and dispensed under gas pressure.
I say almost because cask lager is a thing, but almost impossible to find outside of specialist pubs/bars and beer festivals.
For the most classic example, head to Czechia you might find some places selling Pilsner Urquell from wooden casks, which is quite stunning.
In Cologne you'll probably get some casked Kolsch (technically an ale, but fermented like a lager, so a sort of hybrid but definitely more lagerlike in character).
And some British brewers will occasionally do a cask lager as a novelty/seasonal beer. I had a Keller Helles from Wimbledon brewery just a few weeks ago. The most recent Wetherspoons festival included a Marzen from Fyne Ales and a Vienna from Harviestoun (also known for Schiehallion lager).
But generally when people say 'real' lager, they're talking about better quality stuff from smaller breweries, but not necessarily 'real' as per the CAMRA definition!
Very often the French PDOs are utter bollocks. The PDO version is entirely the same as something made 5km or 50km or 5000km away. But it provides cachet. Oh I must have Bayonne ham! Bresse chicken! Lautrec garlic! YES LAUTREC GARLIC
We should do it more, in the UK
It would be fantastic if we manage to impose a global standard on sandwiches, and only sandwiches from Sandwich, Kent, are allowed to be called "sandwiches (PDO)"
BBC reporting still saying its too early to tell due to the diaspora vote, but that lead looks pretty insurmountable now.
Dan the man.
Simion is a psycho absolutely loathsome creature so fxck him and his Trump arse licking .
Simple answer is I cant. So it needs to die because the customer doesnt have full information in fact its being concealed from him deliberately for corporate interests
Two reasonable objections to that:
1. PDOs can be confusing and opaque - how are you supposed to know what Madiran tastes like, or Cahors? But where the flavour profile isn’t well known the wine makers increasingly give the grape variety too. So often now you see “Malbec” in big letters and “Cahors” in small font underneath. That’s the market working. Same with Bourgogne Chardonnay.
2. PDOs inhibit creativity and variety: yes, they do. But consumers are very well catered for these days on that score, and in some parts of France or Italy the lack of PDO status (“vin de France”) is almost a brand attribute, especially for natural wines or odd blends.
So I think net net the PDO system is a good thing.
One area that is almost completely free of PDO coding is English wine. And to my mind that makes it more confusing, and harder to get a sense of quality.
Not hard. There's an app called Vivino - which is free - whereby you literally take a photo of the winelabel and it will tell you the quality, the grapes, the method, the best comparisons, the likely price point, and maybe 30 or 30,000 reviews which give you a very good understanding of the value. A Vivino wine with a 4.1 rating will be delicious; a Vivino wine with a 3.3 rating will be decidedly meh; anything under 3 will be undrinkable
"Er, mate, it's got a 3.5 rating and is "tart". and I can get it in Carrefour for £6 and you're selling it for £60, fuck off"
It is basically the end of wine bullshit, which is a good thing. If you have Vivino you are almost as knowledgeable as a Master of Wine from the get-go. I use it constantly
To be fair to sommeliers, many of them have largely accepted it. Once they see you are using Vivino they shut up and shrug and let you decide for yourself
They taste different because they’re grown and made in different climates on different soils, and often by different methods.
In the interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, Kash Patel claims that all of the fentanyl is coming into the country from Canada through the northern border.
https://x.com/ArtCandee/status/1924123984691339699
Couple that with the purges of longstanding career officers, and it's another few clicks of the ratchet on the way to authoritarianism.
PDO is no guarantee of strong brand value in any case. It can be a negative if fashions turn, as Beaujolais and Muscadet have both discovered. And Prosecco will in due course, as did Cava.
A few Sekts from Germany also.
Statement: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
@trussliz
The so-called Reset with the EU will be a disaster for Labour and I predict the measures agreed will be reversed in 2029.
The trade deal we already have with the EU is the best any country has - there's very little still to go for.
Immigration is at record levels - more immigration is the last thing we need.
There will be more selling off of British interests in areas like fish and red tape.
Labour is still peddling the narrative that our problems are caused by Brexit. But it's not true.
Britain's problems are made in Britain. Our crazy Human Rights laws. Our Net Zero economic suicide. Our unaccountable institutions made much worse by Blair.
Only a Great Repeal Bill to reverse these laws and appointing new leadership to our failing institutions will deliver the change Britain needs.
Labour is still in the mindset of "narrative" and "optics" not in fixing real problems.
The public are way past that.
How on earth is this news?
The 26-year-old was arrested on Saturday afternoon at London Luton Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest relates to three incidents: a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street, and a fire at an address where he previously lived in north-west London.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwywqg7lq1zo
"Estimates suggest 52% of Philadelphia adults are functionally illiterate, with 67% reading at a 6th-8th grade level. About 40% struggle with tasks like job applications. Data comes from sources like Achieve Now and a 2020 NCES report, though recent 2025 figures are scarce. Poverty and education access likely drive these rates, but exact causes need more research."
A large American city where more than half of adults are illiterate. No wonder China is taking over
https://x.com/grok/status/1924128308708696297
This was also the pub where I got to use a new version of the airport luggage joke. Hassled barman, pouring beers and asked for a cup of tea for my wife, stopped pouring a Blue Bird half way through. When he came back he mistakenly filled it with Black Sheep, hence creating the Blue Sheep or Coniston Black Bird pint. Next time to the bar I asked said drink, to be told that they didn’t serve that. So all together ‘that’s what you did last time’…
Wife replies " I really wish we hadn't called them that".
One interesting thing to do is watch some of the online lectures at the Elite US Universities, they often start at probably GCSE level despite these being 18-19 year olds and are the kids who are the smartest in the country.
The difference at an MIT is by the end of the lecture they have exceeded what is taught at UK universities, but it gives you an idea of how low the starting point is for even the bright kids. Think how bad it is for those who are giving shit grades on the SATs or not even graduating high school.
It is sad, and I am sorry for Joe and his family. It's still not and should not be news in the UK. Tut
- Romanian election
- Beer
- Wine
- Cancer
- areas like fish and red tape
Western society is declining and there are parts of America where that decline feels terminal. Education standards in the US are a joke and even at the very top in the world's highest ranked universities there is now in inexorable decline in standards with more time being spent on nonsense and less on top level research. China is stealing a huge march on the US (and the west) by having a relentless results focussed approach. It's working.
Also, everyone is now just cheating in their essays, and the essay checkers accept this, and on it goes
Quite absurd. This is one reason why - as I keep telling the site, because I am correct - the higher education system is about to implode, spectacularly. It no longer offers value to the student OR the potential employer; it is doomed
Good heavens, it's years since I had to have those books read to me.
So AI slop is being reviewed by AI for top tier conferences.....which is then published and fed back into the AI machine....
Yes, it does seem odd.
I mean, I know PB is obsessed with me, from time to time, but I suggest the enormous, grave, probably terminal issues menacing higher education go a touch beyond a flint knapper being a bit mean on an obscure UK website